About Us
Place Matters initially formed in 2019 as an informal collaborative of people and organisations who believed that the UK needed a core infrastructure and opportunities for shared learning and practice development that would enable community-centred, place-based change to thrive.
Our Journey
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Autumn 2019
A Collective Idea
Five place-based change enthusiasts (Graeme Duncan, Dame Julia Cleverdon, Jo Blundell, Emily Sun and Lela Kogbara) conceived the idea of a “centre” to enable more impactful and “sticky” ways of tackling significant social challenges in the UK.
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Spring 2020 - Spring 2021
Established It Wasn’t Just Us
The group held a roundtable event with social sector organisations, funders and Government officials who endorsed the need for such a 'centre'. Our headline research paper More Than Infrastructure, was published to further demonstrate the need.
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Spring 2022 - Spring 2024
Tested + Developed Approach
Whilst incubated by Right to Succeed, the team tested approaches for facilitating learning and practice development through facilitating partnerships, hosting learning webinars and convening funders. We know our place-based methods work.
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Autumn 2024
'In our future...'
Alongside growing our team, capacity and knowledge of this sector, Place Matters has applied to become an independent legal entity registered by the Charity Commission, so we can continue to support and enable this work.
Our Partners
We are grateful to the ecosystem of partners and supporters who have helped bring Place Matters to life, through their expertise, funding, collaboration and spirit. Our founding partners were Right to Succeed, Black Thrive Global, Tamarack Institute, Renaisi, Government Outcomes Lab and West London Zone. These partners formed a Steering Group which oversaw, advised on and continues to participate in the delivery of our work.
Some of our partners are knowledge partners. These are practice leaders who come together to share and develop data, knowledge, tools and methods to the benefit of the wider practice community. Some of our partners are field building partners. Whilst others are funding partners and supporters. All of whom contribute to our learning and evolution as an organisation.
Want to find out more about who we work with and support? Visit our Stories section.
Our team
We are a small but mighty core team who develop and guide the vision and strategy for our work and provide the enabling support and infrastructure for those delivering on the ground place-based change with communities.
Trustees
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ChairDame Julia Cleverdon
Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO, CBE is a passionate and practical campaigner who has gained an international reputation for ‘connecting the unconnected’, inspiring individuals and organisations to work together for the common good in the most challenged communities.
As Vice President of Business in the Community and former Special Adviser to The Prince's Charities - concentrating on responsible business practice and focusing connecting the unconnected in disadvantaged communities - she promotes collaboration, education and community organisations to build a more robust civil society.
Julia co-founded Step Up To Serve (#iwill), a campaign which was set up to make meaningful social action a part of life for young people across the UK. As Chair of Teach First from 2007 to 2014, and now Vice Patron, Julia has pioneered efforts to address educational disadvantage.
As Chair of Place Matters and Patron of Right to Succeed, alongside her work in Claremont, Blackpool, Julia aims to bring her extensive experience to bear in helping to enable long-term place-based change in specific locations throughout England and Wales.
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TrusteeGraeme Duncan
Graeme is founder and CEO of Right to Succeed, which is a charity that works to strengthen communities and systems that enable children and young people to succeed. Graeme set up the charity in 2015 after 12 years working in education, fundraising and policy. In 2003, Graeme was the first graduate hired by Teach First. He is passionate about collective working and establishing a place-based change approach to create strong communities where every child is supported to succeed.
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TrusteeLiz Weaver
Liz Weaver is co-CEO of Tamarack Institute, a connected network in Canada that develops and supports strategies to fight poverty and drive community change. It focuses primarily on vulnerable individuals, families and communities in deprived rural or peri-urban areas and from Indigenous or immigrant backgrounds, with the bold vision of ending poverty in Canada. Prior to her current role, Liz led the Vibrant Communities Canada team and has worked at the community level as the Director for the Hamilton Roundtable on Poverty Reduction.
Team
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Co-DirectorEmily Sun
Emily has a consulting background, working with organisations in the health, education and social sectors, that are interested in building cultures, leadership and teams where collaboration, learning and innovation can flourish. She specialises in working with organisations that are focused on community centred, multi-stakeholder approaches to enabling places to regenerate and thrive.
Previously, she was head of development at Impetus Trust, and UK HR Director for Eli Lilly and Company. She has an MBA from INSEAD.
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Co-DirectorJo Blundell
Jo started her career in the NHS and continued to work with the public sector as a consultant, a service designer and as a board level executive leading growth and development in service delivery organisations in a range of sectors. Her interest is in designing and delivering transformation through collaboration and through engagement with citizens and people with lived experience.
She has an MA in Service Design from the Royal College of Art.
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Co-DirectorLela Kogbara
Lela Kogbara is a qualified accountant and was a senior leader in the UK public sector for 25 years, including as Assistant Chief Executive for Islington Council, a director at NHS England and advisor at Department for Education. She was one of the founding directors of Black Thrive Global. Lela is currently a member of NHS England Advancing Mental Health Equality Taskforce, a trustee of DFN Project Search and of Liliesleaf Trust UK, and is on the board of Social Finance.
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Team EnablerPolly Orton
Polly has a background in architecture, community-led housing and grassroots organising. She holds a Masters degree in Sustainable Architecture from the Centre for Alternative Technology, where her interests developed in place-based community building and addressing barriers to participation. She strongly believes that empathy, inclusivity and knowledge sharing is key to driving systemic change.
